Editor: Housing secretary Michael Gove’s Cambridge 2040 plan, the attempt to turn the city into the UK’s version of Silicon Valley, has been met with trepidation. While it makes sense to capitalise on the dominance of Cambridge in the UK life sciences and wider tech sectors, it is vital the government does not kill the golden goose.
Too much development without major pre-planning for services and infrastructure could be damaging to the elements that make this area so attractive. Both corporations and individuals come to Cambridge because of the lifestyle on offer – not only for jobs.
While Gove has given some detail on how he plans to address the area’s infrastructure issues, currently these don’t go far enough. And questions will consistently be raised as to exactly how this development can be built sympathetically and how this plan fits within the wider levelling-up agenda.
It can’t be denied the need for life sciences space in the Cambridge cluster is becoming more acute. This has led to prices growing at pace, with rents now in the region of £65/sq ft for the most sought-after locations, and Cambridge must be able to service this demand and retain its competitive advantage.
The city has already seen Blackstone’s BioMed plough some £850m into the delivery of lab space throughout the cluster in 2021. This record level of investment, which is set to provide more than 800,000 sq ft of space, has underpinned the future expansion of the cluster. However, the announcements made by the government go many steps further. And while this could be a fantastic news story for corporate Cambridge, the health of the region overall needs to be considered.
While details are starting to emerge as to how Gove intends to implement the plan, these do not fully address the questions on where exactly these houses and commercial space are going to be built, and crucially, how are the necessary infrastructure improvements going to be funded.
All in all, it is a clear recognition of the importance of Cambridge to the UK economy; but without wider context, it does seem to be putting a lot of eggs in one basket.
Philip Woolner, joint managing partner, Cheffins
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